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Week 4 Games

Dominion – 8/10

I didn’t get to play much of this game. What I did get to play was pretty fun, though. And I can only see it getting funner. That’s rare for this class; a game that gets more fun the longer you play it. I’d love to play through it again with some of the more expensive and destructive cards in play. I think it’s the perfect blend of logic, luck and awesome destructive powers.

Takenoko – 4/10

Not much to like about this game outside of the figurines. I’m not totally sure the guy who made it even tried playing it. Realistically, you could end the game in, like, six turns. I wish I would’ve. I understand games are a product of surplus and leisure and there really isn’t a need for any game ever, but this one definitely doesn’t need to exist.

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Week 3 Games

Tokaido – 8/10

Time. Waster. I’ll say it. But I liked this one. I liked the characters, I liked the art, I liked the board, I liked the pieces. I really did feel like I was on vacation. I think what I especially liked, though, was that this game played into my write-my-own-story-to-make-the-game-mine (and-ultimately-win) strategy. Because it was my vacation, and I got to choose how I spent it. Cute game.

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Card Games

1. Apples to apples scenario-based game, but with you and your pals fill in the scenarios with inside jokes and familiar settings

2. Solitaire-esque game based on one of those hilarious sorting algorithms that makes the funny sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg)

It just takes up time, butI like the idea of becoming a logic gate

3. Poker with all 7s and three 8s 

4. A game where you use basic algebra functions to get the closest to another number pulled from the deck

5. Card cut like this:

  ______________

|         |            |         |

|                                |

|______|_______|   

 One hangs from the ceiling and you have to hook them to each other without it collapsing

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Week 2 Games

Munchkin Gloom – 7/10

I thought this game was so cute. And I won. I think the idea of merging the art from one game with the, well, game of another is so epic. I’ve never played Munchkin, and I’ve never played Gloom. But now I feel like I got the best of each of them. I thought it was funny seeing how much we could damage our own players, and deciding when to lock in that damage to make sure they stayed damaged. 

Two Princes – 5/10

I know that’s not what this game is called. But I kept singing that song while we were playing it, if you remember. And I won. Again.

I understand this is a class where we learn about how games work and how to create them. This game is a cool concept. But that’s all it is to me. And for that reason, I will likely never think of it ever again, and if I do it won’t be fondly. I will say, I had an almost supernatural knack for guessing my opponent’s cards. Even so, I think this game is a time-waster.

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Game Ideas – Collecting

1 – Hallo Hunt is a escape/scavenger hunt type of game where players are split into teams and are attempting to escape the maze first by collecting all the required clues to find the right way out. 

2 – A physical game where a group of people stand in a circle with one person in middle who lists three things for each player (other than them) to go and grab, the other players race to get everything, and the first person back wins the round and becomes the new person in the middle 

3 – Drought is a board game in which players play as a group of farmers who are competing to farm and sell their crops by making sure they collect and preserve enough water to ensure that their crops survive each drought season.

4 – BuildaZoo is a board game where players compete against each other to collect animals and build a the best zoo. 

5 – Dandelions is a flower themed card game where players are each collecting flowers to grow their own garden. 

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Bohnanza Thoughts

I enjoyed the game Bohnanza, but found the trickiest/most compelling part of it to be that your hand order is fixed, and you have to play the cards in the order you have them in. It made the game more difficult, especially in the early part where you only had 2 plots to grow beans in, but also helped to “ensure” there was more player interaction. Because we wanted to remove certain cards before we had to play them we were more enticed to trade and give cards to each other.

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Kubold Kuestions Too

  1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer?

If I’m a nanometer, then I’d assume I’m in a nation that uses the metric system. Assuming that, I’d want a mechanic that allows me to hop from class to class within that system. Micro- to milli- to centi- to deci- all the way up to peta-.

  • Who are you making games for?

I like making games that I would want to play. I’d consider myself a nice middle ground between the general population and game makers: smart enough to understand a high-level game but cool and chill enough to want to actually enjoy myself.

  • Who will be your play testers outside of class?

My roommates and adjacent apartments. My sisters always want to try stuff from this class.

  1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?

Soccer. At a pretty high level, as it would be.

  • How do you define what a game is?

Rules. A game without rules is a toy.

  • What features can make your games more intuitive?

More rules. Or rather, rules that are definitive, but allow alternate interpretations.

  1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?

Tile rummy. I still don’t know the rules. But I still win an awful lot. We play it with my grandma. She gets pissed when I win. A lot of times when I’m at parties I like to play a virtual football game, and people like to watch me pick apart a virtual defense. Winning a fictional Super Bowl at a frat party is an ethereal feeling.

  • What features do gateway games share?

Ease. And maybe a definitive ending. I’d like to know I won, and I’d like it to have been easy.

  1. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
    1. Kingmaker’s Noblesse Oblige
    2. BattleTech’s Heat
    3. Set’s Set-Making
    4. Magic’s Card Tapping
    5. Battle Cattle’s Cow Tipping Rule
    6. xXxenophile’s Popping
    7. Bohnanza’s Hand Order Rule
    8. Mississippi Queen’s Paddlewheels
    9. Time’s Up!’s Communication Breakdown
    10. Dominion’s Constant Shuffling

I’d like a degree of uniqueness, and I’d also like the players to be able to do the action in our real world. I like theatrics. I think you should be able to ham it up in a game.

  1. How does luck and strategy factor into game play?

I’d consider myself a lucky person. But that doesn’t mean I don’t strategize. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I always like assigning my own story to games I play. Sometimes it can be as simple as just changing the name of a character. For example, when I play Super Smash Brothers, I play as Mr. Game and Watch, and I make him green. That makes him Mr. Green and Watch. In doing that, I make the game mine. At least, that’s my rationale. And I’ve won enough things that I’m not going to change that approach.

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Kubold Kuestions

  1. In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?

I think every game should contain fun. Real life is not always fun. Games should be an escape from a possibly not fun life. The only game I play consistently right now is Madden Mobile. I like it because we lose a lot of football games in real life, and it feels  nice to escape to a digital world where I can throw for one million yards in one game.

  1. List the games you’ve played and currently play.

GTA San Andreas

Fortnite

Madden Mobile

Retro Bowl

Guitar Hero

Motorcycle racing games at arcades (I have a gift)

  1. Can you apply the three act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?

In Madden Mobile’s simulated season mode, you get full management decisions. To apply it to this, I could say that making proper roster substitutions and creating a game plan is the beginning, the football game is the middle and the victory rewards and management decisions following the game are – you guessed it – the end.

  1. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? 

I like thinking about the actual mechanic and what it can do. With metaphors and messages and meanings and motifs, you get a little bit of wiggle room. The beautiful thing about being a media arts major is that if you talk long enough about anything, it starts to make sense.

  1. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?

I want to work with Ronan Stark. He is so passionate about games. I envy him.

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Thoughts on Carcasonne Big Box

  • easy to learn, simple turns
  • how does luck or RNG play a role? (tokens)
  • table space needed
  • if you run out of table, moving pieces can be difficult
  • strategy to use specific tokens to shape towards or away areas; certain tokens give more or less points (farming vs roads)
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5 Collecting Game Ideas

  1. Uno, Dos, Traceeee – Players take turns drawing playing cards (with 5 in hand) trying to collect three groups of either sequential numbers or same suits. First to three groups of three wins!
  2. Roley Poley – Players take turns rolling die. The number they role corresponds with how many cards they can draw from a regular shuffled deck of cards. The number on the card corresponds with a number and those give players points. The person with the most points wins.
  3. That’s Mine – players use a board similar to chutes and ladders, however each space is a territory. Players take turns spinning the wheel to know how many spaces they can progress. Each territory can be beneficial or negative in terms of points. Some may give players up to 5 points, but others can take away up to 5 points.
  4. Mix and Match – Players take turns flipping over cards to make a match, if you get a match, you keep it. The player with the most matches wins. Each time someone gets a match the cards get shuffled.
  5. Kick it to win it – Players take 3 turns each kicking a soccer ball at large grid of numbers ranging from 1-10. if a player hits a target they collect that number of points. First player to 21 points wins. Go over and you go back down to 17.
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Game 1 Rules

Countermand

noun – an order revoking a previous one.

  • Objective: flip all of the cards on the table to show your side facing up
  • Required materials: a standard deck of playing cards and a coin/poker chip/etc
  • Setup:
    • Half of the cards (26 for a full deck) are placed face down on the table, the other half are placed face up
      • None of the cards should be touching each other
    • The shortest player will go first
    • The other player may select which orientation they wish to work towards
  • On a player’s turn:
    • Spin the coin
      • As long as the coin remains spinning, the player may pick up and flip cards.
    • Only one card may be flipped with each hand at any time.
    • The coin is deemed to have stopped moving when it is completely still and making no noise.
    • If a player is in the act of changing the state of a card when the coin finishes moving, they are penalized by flipping 2 of their cards to their opponents orientation
  • Winning:
    • A player wins when all of the cards on the table are facing in the orientation that they were working towards
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Week 5 Game reviews

This week we played Splendor, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I had played it once before and got my ass kicked, but this time I had an inkling of an idea of what I was doing. I think the fun in Splendor comes from both trying to get to your goals and also trying to guess (and stop, if you wish) your opponents from getting to their goals. From past experience, I knew the points mattered more than the nobles, so I was going after gem cards that could be used to buy nobles but that could also be used as points regardless. In this way, I ended up with the most points (9) by the time class ran out. I would 100% play this game again and would even buy it for my own collection of games.

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Week 5 Game Ideas

Squirrels! is a collaborative collecting game in which players (as a scurry of squirrels) must help each other complete tasks like raiding the bird feeder and annoying pets, in order to collect enough nuts to last them through winter hibernation.

BFFs is a collecting and card game where you must win a hand of war in order to receive and collect friendship points and dominate your friend group.

Robots vs. Monsters is collecting game where players must collect both mech parts and mech compatibility points each round in order to create a mech capable of destroying the monsters.

Granny Squares is a competitive collecting board game in which grandmothers must collect more yarn than each other by moving around the board before the sale at the craft store ends.

Library of Alexandria is a fast paced card game where players must try to collect enough books (cards) for their collection to survive once a fire (burn card) is revealed.

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Week 6 Discussion

Collecting Themed Games:

  1. Pick or Pass: Pick or Pass is a card game where you can either pick a card from the center pile or pass a card to another person, you win when you have 5 or more of a single color of card.
  2. Luck of the Die: Players are given a number and a certain number of dice, players then take turn rolling the dice and depending on the number rolled players can steal dice from the corresponding player.
  3. Truth, Dare or Pass?: Players progress on a game board and depending where they land they will answer a question or perform a dare and gain a slip, or they can pass.
  4. Pass the Ball: Each round a player is given a ball and they take turns passing it back and forth, after the round ends after a random amount of time the player holding the ball keeps the ball, the player with the least balls win.
  5. Flick n’ Guard: Players have a goal with ‘goalies’ guarding them, other players then flick balls at the goalies and if the goalie is knocked down the player steals the goalie, the player with the most goalies win.
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Collecting Game Ideas and thoughts on “Bang”

1. Diced Up is a game where players compete to collect dice by rolling higher than their opponent. The winner is decided when no more dice are left in the pool.
2. Retyrant is a game where players use cards as money and compete to see who can retire with the most.
3. Stockpile is a game where players have to work together to get rid of all of their cards (collecting in reverse) while still remaining competitive by collecting other cards to avoid nuclear war.
4. Elevation Is a game where players use dice to collect cards, and the player with the highest stack at the end wins.
5. Amazing Trace is a game where players have to trace an original drawing in a limited time and vote on whose is best. The first to collect five “best drawings” wins.

Thoughts on “Bang”
The premise of Bang is a spaghetti western movie, which is a wild west themed movie produced in Italy or by Italian filmmakers. In this regard, the game manages to capture the spirit fairly well. Every card is written in Italian as well as English, and they are themed after old western films.
In “Bang,” Each player has a different role to play, and a different way to win. There is a sheriff, some deputies, outlaws, and one renegade. The sheriff wants to maintain order, so he and the deputies win if the outlaws are all killed. The outlaws want no law, so they win if the sheriff is killed. The renegade wants to be the new sheriff, so he wins if he is the last one standing when the sheriff dies. You kill other players by shooting them. This is accomplished by playing a “Bang” card on your turn aimed at them. Every gun only does 1 damage, but different guns have different ranges. The winchester rifle, for example, has a range of 5, meaning it can hit a player 5 spaces to the left or right of the user. When a player is out of lives, they die. There are also cards that can cause damage to one or more players, give them items, heal them, and more. All in all, I think Bang is a simple game with a lot of depth to it.